Pacquiao-Clottey Victory Predictable

The March 13 match between Filipino boxer Manny ‘Pacman’ Pacquiao and Ghana native Joshua Clottey at the Cowboy Stadium in Texas left audiences a bit underwhelmed. Filipino fans claim they know Pacquiao will win — they were just betting on which round Clottey is knocked out, which never happened. Joshua Clottey invested on defense more than offense, making Pacquiao throw more unsuccessful punches, nevertheless making an effort to stage a good fight. With Clottey hiding behind his black gloves, Pacquiao won every round and won the fight in a unanimous decision. It was victory for Pacquiao as far as the judges are concerned, but a rather uneventful one for the fans — who paid for tickets to watch the show live. After the show, the media couldn’t help to carefully comment on the painfully obvious lackluster match. “People are jokingly asking for their money back”, a radio broadcaster quipped following a commentary. In past experiences, people jump up, cheer and scream with every punch the Pacman throws. Not this time. The last round seemed to be just a lot of waiting and no climax in sight.

So what does this mean for the sport? I always thought of boxers as warriors, gladiators, risking their lives for a living. The greatest fights were always those where the fighters are on the same level of fierceness, and you really don’t know who will win. I always believed that the sport was, first and foremost, for Glory not Gold. Is the latter the now the new boxing ideal? Be safe, take the money and live another day? If this is the case, everything that is good about the sport is lost. Where’s Rocky when you need him?